Users of computers and computer software programs often require technical support. For example, amongst other needs, they may require help installing, and/or navigating through the many features offered by, an operating system or an application program. Technical support organizations exist to support and aid those users. For example, the user manual or other materials distributed with a computer program may include a telephone number that the recipient and/or user of the program can call for assistance.
Typically, modern support providers minimize the cost of labor by hiring a large pool of “bottom tier” personnel who have limited expertise. Such personnel often interact, in the first instance, with the customer seeking assistance, solve trivial issues, and escalate non-trivial issues to a higher “second tier” of more knowledgeable or more specialized personnel. These more knowledgeable or specialized personnel may in turn escalate issues beyond their knowledge or capabilities to a higher “third tier” of even more knowledgeable or more specialized personnel. The “third tier” may in turn escalate to a “fourth tier,” the “fourth tier” to a “fifth tier,” and so on.
Each time an issue is escalated, a laborious, time-consuming, and inefficient process ensues whereby the lower-tier representative contacts a higher-tier representative, introduces the customer, conveys the issue, and “hands off” the customer to the higher-tier representative. Often, though, all representatives at the higher-tier will be busy and the customer told to wait and hold, or even to call back at another time. Unsurprisingly, many computer customers are unsatisfied with the services provided by modern support organizations and may even be reluctant to call such organizations for assistance.
In addition, modern support providers often fail, or do not have the infrastructure, to monitor the communications exchanged between their support personnel and the customers seeking assistance. Accordingly, no mechanism exists for improving the level of service provided to the customer or for enhancing the customer's experience with the support provider.
Thus, needs clearly exist for improving the current level of services offered by modern technical support organizations and for overseeing the personnel providing such services.